BOOK II. Lx. 151-LX111. 154 



in the sky when the sun is low and low when it is 

 high ; and smaller but of Avider breadth at sunrise or 

 sunset, and narrow but of large circumference at 

 niidday. In summer they are not seen during mid- 

 day, but after the autumn equinox they are seen at 

 any hour ; and never more than two are seen at once. 



LXI. I observe that the facts as to the other Had, snotc 

 phenomena of the same kind are generally famiUar : {'^^^jj^^^ 

 \iz. that hail is produced from frozen rain and snow 

 from the same fluid less sohdly condensed, but hoar 

 frost from cold dew ; that snow falls during winter but 

 not hail, and hail itself falls more often in the daytime 

 than at night, and melts much faster than snow ; 

 that mists do not occur in summer nor in extremely 

 cold weather, nor dew in frosty or very hot or windy 

 weather, and only on fine nights ; that Uquid is 

 reduced in bulk by freezing, and when ice is thawed 

 the bulk produced is not the same " ; that variations 

 of colour and shape are seen in the clouds in propor- 

 tion as the fire mingled with them gains the upper 

 hand or is defeated ; LXII. and moreover that par- 

 ticular places have particular special qualities : the 

 nights of Africa are dewy in summer, in Italy rainbows 

 are seen every day at Locri and at the VeHne Lake, at 

 Rhodes and Syracuse there is never such a thick 

 curtain of cloud that the sun is not visible at some 

 hour of the day. Such special features will be more 

 suitably related in their places. 



So much on the subject of the air. 



LXIII. Next comes the earth, the one division Mothet 

 of the natural world on which for its merits we have ^'"■'*- 

 bestowed the venerable title of mother. She belongs 

 to men as the sky belongs to God : she receives us at 

 birth, and gives us nurtuie after birth, and when once 



289 



